1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to power management. More specifically, the present invention provides techniques for statically and dynamically allocating power across multiple systems to manage individual power demands and meet multiple system power objectives.
2. Description of Related Art
Limited power management mechanisms are currently available for computer systems. Conventional mobile computing systems include power management utilities for setting computer systems into various states of operation based on present usage levels. In one example, a mobile computing system may be set into a standby state when the mobile computing system falls into a relatively inactive state of operation. The standby state can allow increased battery life. However, the different states of operation can be crude and may not reflect usage patterns of a particular user. In one example, the mobile system may go into a sleep mode the instant before processing is scheduled on the unit. Power management on a mobile system is also limited by what the operating system or BIOS of the mobile system has access to.
Other computing systems have limited power management states. A user can place a system in a standby state when no work is intended. However, a manual standby state relies on manual input from a user. Some other systems have components that will automatically power down into a lower power state when the component has not been used for a period of time. Again, however, a hard drive may power down right before a user intends to access a data file and power management is limited to an individual computing system.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide techniques for improving power management across systems using both static and dynamic mechanisms for managing power consumption levels.